CHF

For the Saints name the best 22 available and hit them hard. For the Tiges, assess the aches and pains from the Saints game and look at who is available for the match and put together the best side available. With a bit of luck we have the game in hand early with the Saints and we can 'rest' a couple of key players for the last quarter and have them a little fresher for a few days later. We do get an additional 3hrs recovery time than the Tiges and I hope they have a tough hard match against the Swannies the Saturday before.

Good to get the first win on the board for the season and excellent that it was against the Swans in Sydney. I have watched the replay a few times now and there are a few things that stood out for me. To my mind there was less overt celebration when a goal was kicked. It was more "ok. now we look for the next one.' rather than "that's great let's jump and whoop and leave ourselves open to a counter." I loved the way we structured our attack on the ball in the second half. We looked much more like the team of last year. We attacked in numbers at the ball carrier with a number of team mates around the scrum waiting to receive or step in if required. I liked Petracca's game and it is a significant building block for him for the rest of the season and seasons to come. He is starting to realise that he has the power and skills to do a hell of a lot more than he has been doing. Preuss was interesting. He filled a very good role against Alir. It may have been a role that was formulated by the coaching staff and if so, well done and well done that man for doing it so well. In the next couple of pre-seasons I would get him to shadow Max in his training. The way that max has matured in his training and body management is a credit to him and should be a profile for our developing big men.

Not expecting much tonight with the extensive injury list we have. With Jetta and Lockhart out I count 10 on the injured list that would play in the 22. that is a lot of preferred players and depth missing from the list. While not expecting much, I think it will be close as I do not rate the Swans this season.

Good to see Preuss in as it will give us a few options to try during the match and will have Sydney asking some questions as to how we may set up. If Preuss can more than hold his own in the ruck it will give us a chance to swing Max forward and possibly use TMac to shore up the defence if required. It will just make us a bit more flexible. I see Jones has been named on a HBF. a good thing if he is played there in my opinion as he should give some critical leadership support to the defence.

Our defence is rubbish

So, here we are two weeks into the new season without a win and there are a number on this site that are calling it 'season over' already. I am not one of them. The list we have is the same one that played good footy last year so they know how to do it. we have had a shorter preseason than in recent years and we had a large number of players that went under the knife to fix niggles. All have added up to a slow start to the season. Week 1 we were as bad as we could be. Last week I saw and overall improvement in the general play with the highlighting of structural problems in our forward 50. This week I think we will see another step up in overall quality of play and we will win a tight one to be 2-1 after the first three rounds.

Jones and Viney to the VFL

We are having our pants surgically removed.

Have paid up in Feb. [censored] off here

Yep. Same in Europe for me

From the reports and the vision I have watched it would seem that we have excellent depth in the list this season. Not only do we have that depth but it would also seem that we have a mature game plan that most of the list are familiar with. This means that the depth is very effective because when they have to step up, they know what is expected of them and what to expect. Looking forward to a strong showing by the club this season.

I travel a lot with bases in a few places. I have a base in Spain and another in London with travel through Africa and the ME. Suitcase Ex-pat.

R14 May vs. Hogan at the 'G'. The second time the Dockers play at the "G" for the season and the last time they at that venue for the season.

I have no idea at what our results might be next year. I want to believe that we will end the season better placed than last year. This is what I do know; There will be times when I am over the moon at the way the team plays, there will be times when I want to put my foot through the screen. there will be times when I call the players/coaches idiots and times I will think they are pure genius.... So it will not be too different to last season. Improved list, fit players and manageable injuries would all go a long way moving us towards the ultimate goal. I have some guesses. 3rd place after H and A Earn a GF place Brayshaw to win the Bluey Tmac to kick 60 Weid to kick 50 Geelong not to make the 8

I would not put it past Bell to trade 5 to Adelaide himself if he gets it for Neale and then offer us 8 and 23

I thin,kit needs to be kept in mind that the Hogan trade, if it happens did not have to be dependent on the Neale trade as Freo had pick 6 that they could have used to sen d to us as part of the trade. They were greedy and sent it to Port for a range of later picks. Therefore they did not have a low first round to trade with us. It also set up this chain of trades wiating to happen. It should be noted that to date they have not used any of the picks they gained from Port.

They can wait for two years and get him for nothing and pay 6x6

I would suggest that first Freo have to buckle with regard to the Neale deal so that they can get pick 5. if they do fold on that then it would be a significant backdown by them and I could see Bell going aggressively at the hogan deal to get his feathered cap.

No. it has gone a bit quiet. The last I heard was that hogan was happy to play with MFC next season and MFC were happy to have him play with us next season.

I do not understand Freo and their attitude to trading at all. (mind you I don't think I want to) Hogan has 1 year left on his present contract. Asks us if he can explore his options with Freo. MFC agree on the understanding that we would need to get fair value in any trade at this time with Freo. Hogan and Manager meet with Freo. Freo do their due diligence ( I would imagine this would include a clear understanding of Hogan's expectations and those of the MFC) Freo announce that they will no longer be looking at Hogan as they cannot meet MFC trade requirements (no mention of the contract requirements of Hogan and his management and an inference that there may be some unspecified problems) Freo meet with Hogan on Saturday after Bell's announcement that they are no longer interested Been reported that MFC would accept 5, 23 & 30 Given all that I would say that there is not a lot of goodwill between Freo and Hogan and hos management or between Freo and MFC. As negotiating strategies go, Freo's approach is more than very strange.

This reflects 100% with the whispers I have heard.

From the little I have heard over the last day or so it is all but certain that Hogan will play with us next season. The club is comfortable with this and I believe that Hogan and his management have a full understanding of what transpired and do not have a problem with the situation. i don’t think there is any road back from the statements made by Freo with regard to Hogan and Neale. With the personalities involved, I cannot see it happening. if Hogan does play with us next season I would suggest that he is locked in for the next two seasons. He is out of contract at the end of 2019 but will not become a restricted free agent until the end of 2020. I could see it unfolding that we approach him to get him to sign the extra year to take him to RFA. Given Freo’s performance during this draft season, there is no certainty that they will offer anything worthwhile next time around. If that was the case he may have to choose to go to the draft with no certainty of getting where he wants to go. if he stays with Melbourne he has two competitive years to maybe land a flag and two further seasons of development to end up a RFA at 25yo, in his prime with a track record to command a top long term contract from whichever club he walks to and Melbourne take the compensation pick.

It would seem that the whispers I heard a few days ago were correct with regard to the situation within Freo. I had not heard, however, just how badly they were handling the possible trade. If as I heard, they were not 100% committed to making the deal, they should have walked away without making a silly offer that was never going to be accepted. It has done their reputation no good what so ever. From the statement Bell made, the only reason they made the offer was so they could say "well we tried and Melbourne wanted too much". In the broader football world, all the other clubs understand what has transpired. I think Melbourne has been very transparent with the way they have handled the situation. Hogan wanted to explore his options and the club, with a clear understanding of what he has been through over the last few years, agreed to allow him to look around. that agreement came with a clear indication that if he wanted to move, we would need to get fair compensation. This is out in the public forum. What was never stated in public by Hogan or his management is that Hogan wanted to be traded to Freo at this time. I believe that this is significant. Melbourne has come out of this with it's reputation enhanced and this will stand us in good stead in the future, not only with other clubs but also with players. I do not think there will be any further discussion on a possible move to Freo this trade period. It will be very interesting to see what the response is from the club and Hogan in the medium term with regard to a possible contract extension. Do not be surprised if the club gets the May deal done.

This has become very messy but I believe that the fundamentals have not changed. I understand that Hogan is 50/50 about leaving or staying. Freo is 50/50 about making a fair offer or not and MFC is a bit sidelined waiting to see what reasonable offer comes from Freo. The first offer made by them is so far off the mark that I think we may be looking at leaving the table and keeping Hogan for next season. I would have no problem with that. I think in these days there is an expectation from the player that they want the club to act professionally and there is a reciprocal expectation that the club has of the player. It would make for an interesting season to see what comes out of the woodwork by way of a contract extension or possible clubs willing to deal. If no deal is done it may be that Hogan in fed up with the seasonal speculation about his return to Perth and the distraction it provides. it might just push him into making a longer term commitment. It would be good to see what he could produce without this happening each trade season.

If this news is correct, it gels with what I heard. It was Jesse that was not 100%sold on Freo. Game plan, coaching and the immediate future of playing once again for a bottom quarter club.